Following a request from Andrew Eastwood on our facebook page concerning the Jete eviction, here are some clarifying details.
Although the property was bought in 1979, it wasn’t until 1984 that the bill of purchase was registered in the Land Registry.
However, the problem lies in the fact that the person that sold the land and basic building structure to the parents of the evicted families, Luis Álvarez, took at a loan in Almería giving his brother, Octavio, as the bank guarantor.
Luis died in the year 2000 with the debt outstanding.
The brother, Octavio, paid off the bank-loan debt by buying the property when the bank auctioned it. That’s to say, the bank embargoed the land and auctioned it off to cover its debt and Octavio bought it up, thus becoming the legal owner.
(News: Jete, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – photo: Juanjo)
Curious- so the buyers, bought, paid, later had the purchase registered at the Property Registry (presumably all in good faith); and notwithstanding all that, lost their homes and all their investment in finishing them off.
Hmmm… I think if anyone locally has any interest whatsoever in the local property market taking off again anytime soon, it would be good if they could explain the pitfall which needs to be avoided!!
Perhaps it was just the late registration by the buyers… perhaps for tax reasons..?